Women Are Drinking More Like Men

“Women are drinking more like men, to put it bluntly.”

According to a new study covered by NBC News, women aren’t to be underestimated when it comes to drinking.

“Madison County, Idaho, had the lowest levels of binge drinking in 2012 (5.9 percent), while Menominee, Wisconsin, had the highest rates of binge drinking (36 percent among residents). For heavy drinking, Hancock County, Tennessee, had the fewest heavy drinkers (2.4 percent of its population) and Esmeralda County, Nevada, recorded the largest proportion of heavy drinkers (22.4 percent).”

The rates of binge drinking have spiked by 17.5 percent among women between 2005 and 2012. In contrast, men’s increase totaled only 4.9 percent.

“It confirms what we been seeing in a whole other group of metrics,” says Dr. George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

“We have seen an increase in the same time period of hospitalizatons due to alcohol and emergency room visits due to alcohol,” Koob told NBC News.

“Three things explain it, socioeconomic factors — people who are educated, people who have the means to enjoy a drink when they come home from work, will drink.”

This is different for people with lower education, they are statistically more likely to binge drink — which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as having five or more drinks in two hours for a man, or four or more for a woman.

A Second factor you have to take into account is that of availability. “If you have more outlets selling alcohol and you have more bars next to each other, people tend to go from one to another and have more drinks,” Mokdad said.

One last factor accountable for the rise of drinking is the NEW social norms. If your friends and family knock back a few to celebrate, or commiserate, you are more likely to, also.

It is quite easy to see the increase among yoiung women drinking more heavily.